Lessing comes up with more to scoop Nobel

THE committee that has just awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature to Doris Lessing might have done so out of exhausted
admiration for an output of more than 50 individual volumes and a
range that includes "straight" novels and science fiction, short
stories, opera librettos, dozens of short stories, poetry, drama,
non-fiction and autobiography.

They might also have been motivated by Lessing's age: a nice
gesture to an 87-year-old who has won many other prizes but not
this one.

But these can hardly be the real reasons. Of course, a woman of
her age has had more time than most to create a vast opus; but
Lessing most merits her prize because she has never allowed herself
to remain in a money-spinning literary rut.

This is not to disparage the Ian Flemings or the Georgette
Heyers who have provided sequels for fans; they just haven't
demonstrated Lessing's unbounded intellectual vigour.

As soon as she had hit and quarried a popular vein, as in the
Children of Violence sequence, she would abandon it and look
for a genre capable of expressing new, more pressing
preoccupations.

The possibility that the next set of novels might not be as
pleasing to her public as the ones they had grown used to was of
little moment.

Impelled to give lengthy thought and imagination to the future
of our planet, her several works exploring this theme were found by
some readers to be bleak, depressing and disappointing.

If they also thought a book called, and about,
Grandmothers suitable only for blue-rinsers, she disagreed,
and wrote four long, sprightly and diverse stories on the subject.
And she tested editorial (or marketing) preconceptions by
submitting a novel under an assumed name, which was, of course,
turned down.

These few examples can hardly represent the bold juggling with
ideas, the restless desire to investigate the unknown, which, along
with indisputable writing skills, justifies her prize.

The South African novels were enthralling, particularly for
Australians, because life in Rhodesia was so similar and yet so
different  we could have easily joined in the parties they
called "sundowners".

The departure for London was a rite of passage many of us envied
and emulated, though only Lessing and our own Shirley Hazzard
turned it into great literature.

The earnest preaching of feminism was no doubt more systematic
in books such as Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique, but
Lessing's heroines did as much for the cause by being
self-directing, venturesome and, usually, likeable.

The notion Lessing was too past it or the wrong gender (only
three women have been successful over the past 15 years) to be a
favourite at Ladbrokes was thankfully immaterial to the Nobel
committee.

Judith Armstrong's most recent book is The Maestro's
Table (Text). She is a fellow of the Contemporary Europe
Research Centre at the University of Melbourne.

1191696176873-theage.com.auhttp://www.theage.com.au/news/world/lessing-comes-up-with-more-to-scoop-nobel/2007/10/12/1191696176873.htmltheage.com.auThe Age2007-10-13Lessing comes up with more to scoop NobelJudith ArmstrongWorldhttp://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2007/10/12/majdorislessing_wideweb__470x312,0.jpg